A preferred automated dispensary design is described in our copending application U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/541,307 which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. The dispensary comprises a rack assembly of storage bins having a back wall, a series of vertical slots in the back wall, and partition members having tongues for fixing the partition member to the back wall. Extending between the partition members are bin floors, the edges of the floor members located in slots in the partition members. The spacing of the slots in the back wall and of the slots in the partition members is selected to permit a range of spacings of horizontally adjacent partition members and a range of spacings of vertically adjacent floor members. By suitable selection of the spacings, a large variety of bin sizes can be obtained.
Referring in detail to FIG. 14, which corresponds to FIG. 1 in our copending application U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/541,307, a cabinet 10 for a dispensing kiosk is shown. The cabinet has a rack 11 of storage bins 12 arranged in a row and column array. The bins vary in shape and size to accommodate different sizes of packages to be dispensed. Particularly for the application envisioned for the present invention, the rack of storage bins is formed as a secure back end medicament storage vault. The storage vault is, in use, combined with a front end unit (not shown) which bars unauthorized access to the drug vault but which can be opened to expose the drug vault for servicing. Mounted in the front end unit is an interface unit (not shown) at which a user, can enter data, communicate with a remote expertise or data records through a data or teleconference link, and collect dispensed packages, etc. As shown in FIG. 14, a pick head 20 is mounted on a vertically reciprocable carriage 21 which is driven by a belt drive 22 along a vertical guide rail 23. The rail 23 is mounted between two linked, horizontally reciprocable carriages 24. The carriages 24 are driven by a belt drive 26 along horizontal rails 28. The carriages 21 and 24 are movable in a plane which extends parallel to a front access side 19 of the bin rack 11. In this way, the pick head 20 can be placed adjacent any selected one of the bins 12 at the front access side 19 of the bin rack. The pick head is used to pick a chosen package from its position in the rack of bins and, if part of a stack or row of packages, from its position within the stack or row, in preparation for dispensing the package at an access bay in the front end interface unit. Optionally, the pick head can also be used to load medicament packages in a bin in a reverse process. Particular pick head mechanisms for use with the illustrated rack of the present invention are described in applicant's copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/503,989. The rack has a series of vertical partition members 30, in a form assembled as part of the storage apparatus. As per applicant's copending PCT application serial no. PCT/CA2007/001220 related to a method, system and apparatus for dispensing drugs, an automated apparatus is disclosed from which medicaments can be automatically dispensed. More specifically, the PCT application describes a networked system having a server, a database of patient information linked to the server, a first client having input means linked to the server and operable to generate a script for a medicament prescribed to a user, a second client comprising an automated apparatus for dispensing medicaments (referred to in said PCT application as a robotic prescription dispensary) operable to recognize a human and/or machine readable description in the script, and to provide validating cross-referencing between the description and patient information as a prelude to dispensing a drug to the user on the basis of the input script. The apparatus interfaces with the server to transact a payment, for example, by prompting the patient for credit card information. Prescription labels and receipts are printed. The apparatus confirms that the drug is correct and delivers it to a dispensing area for retrieval by the user while retaining the script in a lock box, and verifying that the purchased drug product has been retrieved. Further, the apparatus may print and/or provide to the user educational materials relevant to the medicaments that have been dispensed. The automated dispensing apparatus for is of significant value in enabling a patient to obtain prescribed medicaments without having to attend a pharmacy or drug store.
In preparation for dispensing drug packages from the automated dispensary, dispensary rack bins are filled with products and an accurate record is made during the process of loading to identify exactly what products are stored in what bins. Form knowledge of the identity and whereabouts of all products in inventory, the inventory is pro-actively managed. This involves regularly checking through an index of lot numbers and expiry dates and discarding any products which are close to the expiry date, reviewing suppliers recall notices and discarding any drugs identified by suppliers as being recalled, and periodically rotating stock between different kiosks to match inventory to market expectations. Such knowledge is also used to ensure methodical and accurate handling of products from the moment that drug packages arrive for loading in the automated dispensary to the moment a particular drug package is dispensed to a user or is otherwise disposed of A prime objective is to have complete assurance at all times as to the whereabouts of all products that have been loaded into the dispensary, and to know exactly what is in each rack bin.
To achieve such assurance, important characterizing information for a drug package must be identified before it is loaded into the dispensary in a serialization process. Such information might include, for example, the nature of the drug, manufacturer, lot number, expiry date and handling instructions. Typically, such data is applied to the drug package at a prior juncture in the supply chain; for example, by the manufacturer shortly before the drug package exits the manufacturing facility. The characterizing information may also include physical data such as weight, shape and size of the package. Such physical data is normally not evident from a visual inspection of the drug package as it is received for dispensary loading, but must be generated by measuring or otherwise physically inspecting the drug package before it is loaded into the dispensary.
To identify a particular product during subsequent handling of the product in the dispensary, the characterizing data is again read at whatever location in the dispensary identification of the product needs to be made. The characterizing data is read, for example, by optical character recognition (OCR) equipment. In addition, the physical parameters of the package, such as its weight and size, are also measured at the location to obtain further evidence that the package has been correctly identified and has not been tampered with.
As part of the serialization process, an imaging process is performed in which multiple images are recorded of each drug package as a prelude to it being loaded into a storage bin. The images are analyzed to derive the initially present characterizing data, this being used to identify the nature of the package at the time of serialization and to provide assurance as to what package is being handled during, for example, a subsequent dispensing process. The images may include images of each face of the package, which is typically a box, but which may be another suitable container such as a bottle or canister. As part of the imaging process, printed data is captured and analyzed using conventional OCR equipment. Illuminating sources of different colors are preferably used as this enables corresponding analyses of the separate color images to be performed. Illuminating and image capture at different colors is of value because, for example, the degree of contrast between a printed character's foreground and background colors is dependent on relative absorption and reflection which, in turn, may be a function of the illuminating colors. In a preferred arrangement, the package to be analyzed is maneuvered through a series of positions to derive a range of images for subsequent processing. For example, the package is gripped at contact points and is spun around an axis extending between the contact points to present each face in turn to one or more light sources and/or one of more cameras forming part of the imaging system. Alternatively, or in addition, any one of a plurality of cameras may have its settings adjusted, or may be moved or selected so as to obtain a range of images.
Characterizing data required by the automated dispensary for effective handling of a drug package ideally has a standardized position, content and format. For example, all information is printed black on white and all alphanumeric characteristics are of a single font type, stroke width, size and spacing. In fact, labelling of commercial drug packages is rarely standardized to this extent.
To achieve consistency of presentation of characterizing data for future product handling, any supplied product can be manually analyzed to derive the characterizing data, following which, the characterizing data is applied to the package as a label. The applied labels for all products which are to be loaded into the automated dispensary can be prepared to have the desired standardized position, content and format regardless of the degree of variation in the drug labelling on packages as they are originally received from the supplier.
In a more convenient method, the characterizing data is coded into a machine-readable tag, such as a bar code or a radio frequency identification tag, which is attached to the drug package and has a standardized location and format. The tag is subsequently monitored by appropriate machine reading units as the package is handled in the dispensary throughout the storage and dispensing process. The use of such tags reduces the processing required in comparison with having to identify in real time during subsequent drug package handling many data elements from a label displaying the characterizing data.
In an alternative auto-serialization method, display data applied to a package is automatically read from the drug product as supplied and is used directly to code a machine readable tag applied to the product. Such an auto-serialization method clearly saves in the loading process time and expense as it simply reuses the serialization work done earlier in the supply chain. As previously mentioned, one problem with automatically reading data on the supplied product is that there may be significant variation depending on the manufacturer, regulatory requirements in different jurisdictions, etc. Consequently, data elements may be in a variety of positions, foreground/background color combinations, font type, size and stroke width, etc.
Of particular interest are data elements which are not displayed on a label applied to the supplied product, but which are embossed on the product package itself. The use of embossing is common for recording two very important elements: lot number and expiry date. Reading embossed text with a conventional OCR reader is difficult because embossed characters having the same identity can differ considerably in terms of uniformity, depth of struck characters, foreground/background color combinations, foreground/background contrast, etc. In spite of limitations of machine reading embossed characters, it has been found that human operators can discern data in an image of embossed characters in all but the most difficult cases, showing that identity characteristics are present if the right reading method and apparatus are applied. A high success rate for reading by known automated readers is however currently achievable only with the most sophisticated and expensive OCR equipment. Particularly for an automated drug dispensary kiosk, a relatively inexpensive and rapid method for identifying embossed characters is required.